


Transformations

by HiddenTohru



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-08
Updated: 2010-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-11 14:22:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/113345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTohru/pseuds/HiddenTohru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oghren and Sten have come to visit our fearless Grey Warden Commander. Throw in a batch of unruly mage recruits, and things go horribly wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transformations

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in February 2010.

Laeti sighed and rubbed her forehead. A new batch of recruits from the Circle Tower had arrived that morning, and for the third time she wondered if she was simply being sent every mage who couldn't actually do anything useful. There had been crashes and bangs coming from the mage wing (she had thought it wise, after the first few accidents, to separate them from the rest of the castle) for days now, and she wished again that Wynne was still alive. She was sure the old enchantress would've been able to whip the recruit mages into shape in no time, but Claudius and the other Orlesian mages were doing their best with what they had.

She turned back to her desk and studied the ciphered letter she'd received a few days ago. She understood why Oghren would be traveling to Amaranthine, but she couldn't quite wrap her head around why Sten had returned from Seheron to see her. Although they had become comrades in arms, Sten had always hinted that the qunari would likely attempt another war against Ferelden, and she had dreaded the day, but she had never thought him likely to return on any other errand, and certainly not to travel with Oghren, who he had always viewed with open contempt. She shook her head, knowing that it was likely she'd never find out why, and moved on to other orders of business.

Before she'd made much headway, the door to her office burst open, and Alistair dashed inside, closing the door behind him. She looked him over, puzzled. His clothes were charred in a few places, but otherwise he was unharmed. "Alistair? What's wrong? You look like someone tried to set you on... oh, no." She rubbed her eyes with one hand, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "It was one of the new mages, wasn't it?"

He nodded, then coughed, a small cloud of black smoke escaping his mouth. "They didn't realize I was at the end of the hall, I guess. Anyway, I thought I'd take refuge here, if you don't mind. Do you still have that pair of breeches I left in here last week? These aren't holding up as well to a fiery inferno as I would've expected."

She nodded and pointed over at the door to the private washroom, where the pants hung on a peg. "I was going to get the maid to come get it this afternoon, lucky for you I kept forgetting it was there."

Alistair grinned and opened his mouth to say more, but there was a sharp rap on her door, and Laeti rolled her eyes before saying "come in."

Joran stood in the doorway, looking nervous. "Commander, some visitors have arrived. A dwarf and... a giant." He looked even paler than normal, and Laeti tried not to laugh.

"Of course, I was expecting them. Run and get Zevran, will you? He'll surely want to greet our old friends." As the young elf dashed back down the hall, she mused to herself. Or at least he'll be an asset if either of them came looking for a fight.

Alistair was already exiting the washroom, dressed in the undamaged pants and picking at one of the smaller holes in his shirt. "Did I hear that Sten and Oghren are here? We'd best go greet them, haven't seen them since we ended the Blight. I guess they won't care if I'm not exactly in my Chantry best."

Laeti smiled at him as she grabbed his hand. "I doubt either of them would care if you showed up buck naked, but I think some of the recruits might object."

She giggled at his shocked look as she led him down the hall toward the entrance to the castle.

\--------------------------

When Laeti arrived, she found Zevran already chatting amiably with the dwarf, while Sten stared unsmilingly at their surroundings. The recruits in the practice yard had backed as far away from the castle's entrance as they dared, and Laeti rolled her eyes at them. She noticed Joran wasn't with Zevran, and wondered why, but the thought quickly vanished when all seven feet of qunari were towering over her.

She looked up and smiled. "Hello, Sten. Didn't expect to see you back in Ferelden so soon."

The Qunari looked away, the scowl normally worn on his face flickering to look of something that could have possibly been a distant cousin of embarrassment. "I was sent back by the Arishok."

"Oh? May I ask for what purpose?" She noticed in the corner of her eye that Alistair had gone over to chat with Oghren and Zevran, all three of them tactfully ignoring her and Sten.

"... They wished me to discover a secret." The qunari was looking distinctly uncomfortable behind the scowl.

She looked blank. "A secret? Um... I suppose I could try helping you, although sneaking around is more Zev's thing. What secret is it?"

He looked down at her, glaring so hard she thought she might burst into flames. "They wished the secret behind making cookies."

Laeti blinked. "... Cookies?"

"... Yes."

She turned her back to him, shaking with barely contained laughter. "I... I think I can help... If you'll just... excuse me... a moment..."

Before she could dash into the castle, she heard shouting, and suddenly a bright green ball of spell energy was hurtling in their direction from one of the windows in the mage wing. Someone yelled "look out!" and then the spell hit them, and Laeti knew no more.

\--------------------------

Someone was shaking her, and she groaned as she felt the throbbing bruise where her head hit the cobblestones. Except the groan was much deeper than she remembered, and somehow her body felt all wrong. Laeti quickly opened her eyes, and was greeted by the sight of the most stunning red-haired woman she had ever seen. The woman wore a look of great concern, and seemed to entirely disregard the very revealing holes in the loose shirt she wore. Laeti wondered where she had seen the shirt before, but the woman spoke up before she could place it.

"Oh, thank the Maker you're all right. You must've hit your head very badly when you fell. I was so worried about you." She hugged Laeti, and the elf woman wondered why she was feeling such a sense of discomfort, when she realized that the normal negotiation of breast to breast contact between two women hugging was missing.

Laeti pushed the red-haired woman away and ran her fingers down her flat chest. "I... I'm male!" He realized now what the especially uncomfortable feeling in his nether regions must be, and he blushed furiously as she looked up at the red-headed woman. "... Alistair?"

Alistair nodded. "Yes, it's me. And we're not the only ones affected, either." She helped Laeti up, and the newly male Commander gaped as he looked at the other three companions who he'd been conversing with moments before. Zevran was the bustiest blond elf he'd ever seen, and seemed incapable of not grinning. Oghren was glowering from a beardless face, and Sten... Well, he hadn't been prepared for the sight of qunari woman, especially not one in full plate mail, holding a very large sword and scowling so hard that no one would come near her. It appeared that the spell had also reshaped their clothes, as she couldn't imagine how such an amazingly endowed giant woman could have fit into such plate armor otherwise.

The recruits were all staring at them, but none of them would come nearer with Sten waving a sword around. Before he could do more than gape, Claudius emerged from the mage's wing, hurrying as fast as his dignity and mage's robes would allow. "Commander!"

Laeti nodded, at least secure in the knowledge that he would still be given the same amount of respect. "I'm hoping that you're coming to give me an explanation, Claudius."

The mage bowed, looking harried. "Of course. Two of the new recruits were... well, dueling might be the best word. It isn't allowed, of course, but before I had a chance to break it up, that spell erupted from the window and headed down to you." His face twisted into a grimace of distaste. "I'm afraid the lingering effects will take several days to reverse, but I assure you that it IS reversable, and we will set to work on it immediately. In the meantime..." He cast a nervous look over at Sten, who was still brandishing her sword and scowling. "It would be best if you all came to the infirmary with me, just in case something else was mixed into that spell than a simple transformation."

Laeti nodded, then glanced over at Alistair, who was already moving to round up the other three women. "... And perhaps we can all get ourselves dressed properly in the meantime."

Claudius coughed, and Laeti blushed as he realized he'd been staring at the buxom redhead's chest. He averted his eyes as Alistair led Oghren, Zevran and Sten in the direction of the infirmary, blissfully unaware of the show she was giving the other recruits. His eye twitching slightly, Laeti followed with Claudius at his heels.

\--------------------------

After a few hours in the infirmary, in which they had been given potions and poked and prodded by Claudius and the assistant healers, the mage had given them all a clean bill of health, and urged them to take the next few days easy. Sten still wore a permanent scowl, and had not allowed the healers to remove any of her armor or touch her sword. As soon as they were released, she stalked off in the direction Laeti had pointed out the guest quarters.

"Well, ain't this a nug-humpin' good time, eh boss?" Laeti looked down as Oghren patted her chest for what seemed like the fifteenth time. "T' be honest, I wasn't so keen on the idea at first, but since it's only for a few days... Say, which way did you say the guest rooms were? I feel the need to rest a while."

Laeti shuddered and pointed out the way, trying to banish the unwelcome images the dwarf woman's words had summoned.

Joran had already arrived and seemed utterly shocked by the sight of his lover as a woman. He stammered and blushed and hadn't managed to string a coherent sentence together. This wasn't helped by Zevran's behavior, though. The busty blonde elf had quickly taken to her new form, and was enjoying teasing her lover.

"Are you sure my breasts are large enough, Joran? I'd hate for you to not be attracted to me as a woman. I mean, I know you are attracted to woman, although of course it hasn't mattered before, but maybe you'd prefer one with a bit more size?" She pouted prettily, and Laeti could practically see the poor boy's brains running out his ears.

Alistair had blushed bright crimson when they had made her change her shirt (especially when she realized how holey it was), and hadn't even allowed her any privacy to do so. Laeti almost found himself grinning at his lover's discomfort, and as soon as they were cleared to leave he had asked her to come to his office to talk. They left Zevran and Joran, heading in the opposite direction (or at least Zevran was walking, Joran seemed to be led along in a state of mesmerized shock), and returned to Laeti's office, where all the trouble had first started.

Alistair blushed as they looked at each other. "It's strange to be the same height as you. Normally I can tuck your head under my chin comfortably, but I'd guess we're barely an inch different, if that."

He grinned. "If only I wasn't an elf, I'd be taller than you. It would be an interesting change, at least. But maybe we've had enough interesting changes for one day." He moved closer to Alistair, but the redheaded woman moved back, and they continued until her back was pressed against the door, and Laeti was so close they were almost touching.

"Laeti, what are you doing? We can't... Not like this!" Alistair felt panicked, but there was also something else in her eyes, and Laeti felt an unfamiliar stirring as he leaned in to kiss her.

He enjoyed that kiss, so alien and yet so familiar, the taste of his lover, unchanged but for an added sweetness. He wondered, as he explored Alistair's mouth, if that was what he had tasted like. He broke the kiss, finally, both of them coming up for air, and pressed himself against her, relishing the feel of her breasts against his chest. "Why not? We're still the same on the inside. I still love you... and want you." He ran his fingers down her arm, then slid one hand up under her shirt and caught one nipple between his fingers, making her gasp. "You have to admit you're curious."

"W-well... But, they said to take it easy for a few days, and, oh, Maker..." She tangled her hands in his long hair as he attacked her neck, nibbling and licking and making her otherwise lose any protests she could have had.

\--------------------------

Joran blushed as he looked at the naked woman lying next to him, still glowing from the post-coital bliss. "I... I've never done that before."

Zevran purred and stroked his arm, moving just close enough for her breasts to rub against the outside of his wrist. "You certainly seemed to enjoy it, though. Maybe we should try it again, to make sure?"

He groaned. "I thought you were bad as a man... I'm not going to get any sleep for the next couple days, am I?"

She didn't answer him, just pulled him toward her with a sly grin.

\--------------------------

After the first time, Laeti and Alistair had agreed that his office wasn't the best place to continue, and counted themselves lucky that it wasn't too far from their bedchamber. One of the Orlesian wardens had been called in after the first day to deal with the paperwork, as it seemed the Commander, his second in command and his personal secretary had all been occupied by the odd sickness that seemed to accompany their temporary transformation.

Laeti traced the curve of his lover's back as she lie, recovering from their latest exertions. "You know, we should get you a dress."

Alistair turned her head and stared at her lover. "Excuse me? Have we spent any time in the past two days in clothing?"

Laeti laughed. "Well, no, but I still think we should get you one." He moved closer, nuzzling her neck and making her giggle. "Aren't you always the one who extolled the virtues of wet frocks to me? I seem to remember that one time, when I fell into the lake at Redcliffe, you couldn't keep your hands off me..."

Alistair smiled at the memory. "Mmm, wet frocks..."

Laeti grinned. "My point exactly."

\--------------------------

It didn't take long for the effects of the spell to wear off, with some help from Claudius' potions to speed things up. All in all, only five days passed before the five of them were back to their normal selves. Sten emerged from his room looking as angry as ever, and only waited long enough for Laeti to find a small book of cookie recipes before he left. Oghren stayed a week or so, pestering the mage apprentices so badly they promised Claudius they'd never duel again. Zevran and Joran kept giving each other significant looks, but their behavior wasn't very much changed from how it had been before, so Laeti ignored them.

As for her and Alistair, the whole thing had seemed only to make them grow closer. What was it Ashalle had always said to her? Walk some time in another's shoes, and you grow to understand them much better. She smiled to herself as she watched her lover snore beside her. Maybe she could convince one of the other mages to do it again sometime...


End file.
